Lines Drawn in Blood
by QuoteMyFoot
Summary: Kekkei genkai aren't the only things the ninja of Konoha can inherit. Because we are more than the sum of our parts - there are others' in us, too. Oneshot.


Hinata gets more than her eyes from her father.

Hyuuga Hiashi always admired the Yondaime. He was strong, which is something the Hyuuga prize, and intelligent, which is something the elders prize, and a good man, which is something Hizashi prized.

Hiashi considers himself to be, in many ways, a failure. Hinata looks too much like the mother he couldn't save and that hurts him in ways he doesn't really understand. So he tries his best to make her strong and independent, and fails miserably, but he keeps trying because he thinks maybe if he does it right, Hinata will not marry/become someone cold and distant like himself. Maybe she'll marry someone like the Yondaime was - someone who could protect her and love her.

This is why he's not as upset as he should be when he finds out she's in love with Naruto.

_Yes, _he thinks, and manages to smile, _It all worked out well in the end. _

_

* * *

_Neji, likewise, is left more than the Byakugan by Hizashi.

Hyuuga Hizashi always despised the Caged Bird Seal. In time, it warped his perceptions so, and he came to hate the Main Family - with one exception. He could not bring himself to hate his twin, no matter what, but still could not stop himself from hating what his twin _represented. _

He did not stop hating until he saw the same thing happening to his son before his very eyes, and realised that he had Hiashi had not spoken like brothers in years, because whilst he might not hate him he cannot bring himself to love him, either. And he realises, with some mild sense of horror and more than a little self-disgust, that the Caged Bird Seal does not matter. If he did not have it, what would he do? Sit on the sidelines and watch his family die?

The Main Family can force him to do some things. That is not the point. The point is - they are family. And they have forgotten - they have _all _forgotten, not just him - that there are some things family should do for each other without question. It is only because of this seal that he no longer wants to.

_Neji, _he prays, as he goes to his death not by order but by **choice,** _Please find a way to fix the family._

Neji does so - but only after he is fixed first, and not alone.

* * *

Kakashi inherited his looks from his father.

But he also inherited his _heart _- his heart that loved his friends and family more than any one man ought to be capable of, that loved them more than Konoha, than the greater good. It doesn't make either of them traitors, but it does explain a great deal about them, and made both of them suffer.

Hatake Sakumo saved his friends rather than complete a mission. Which would have been fine, had it not also turned his friends against him.

Heartbroken does not do the result justice.

And Kakashi, young, genius, fragile Kakashi, learned that you shouldn't love people, because they will always disappear, or worse, hate you. He already loved too much, but tried to salvage the situation by becoming the cold, distant, rule-abiding person he was. You had to be at least a _little _warm to people, but that was just for ease of relations and it didn't _mean _anything.

He was lying to himself. But he tried his best. He loved his team more than they knew. But they also proved his father right. They all disappeared.

Kakashi still hasn't recovered. But he is well enough to hope it will be different this time.

But hope he took from Obito, not his father. Sakumo took hope from Kakashi when he slid that blade into his belly.

* * *

Naruto's received something more than the Kyuubi from his mother.

She was always aiming to do better for herself than she should. Kyuubi jinchuuriki? Tell them all that you're going to be Hokage. Isolated in the village? Make yourself loud enough and bright enough that no one can ignore you. Lonely, friendless, hurting? Smile.

Smile, and keep smiling, until the happiness is true.

Naruto had his lapses, but he followed the same philosophy. And both he and his mother found real happiness in the end, even if the smile still sometimes cracked.

* * *

Somewhere in Itachi lives Izuna, brother of Madara.

Izuna, the Uchiha who gave up his eyes for his beloved brother - willingly, as the Uchiha stories say. Izuna, who loved his brother so much, he did not care if his decision would hurt others. As long as his brother would live and prosper.

And then his brother grew mad with paranoia, felt betrayed by a clan who had loved him, and a clan that, in many ways, still did. Then Izuna wondered if Madara would have been happier blind.

Itachi never allowed himself to wonder if Sasuke would have been happier dead. His hold on sanity was fragile enough.

But somewhere in his subconscious, he does wonder, and he makes sure that amongst his last words to Sasuke, 'sorry' is among them, for all the pain he has caused.

* * *

Obito, too, had something of Izuna in him.

'Something' which said _you are not worthy. _

When he did not have the eyes so valued by his clan, he was the lowest of them all.

_You're too weak to have the Sharingan, _the voice said.

When he found he loved Rin, he discovered that he could never make her as happy as Kakashi.

_You're not good enough for her, _the voice said.

When Kakashi was still a chuunin, he could beat Obito without much effort.

_You're a worthless ninja, _the voice said.

By the time Kakashi had become a jonin, their levels were so different that they weren't even walking the same ground.

_You're nothing, _the voice said.

_I am __**not **__nothing, _Obito said back.

He was weaker. He had no Sharingan. He could not make Rin as happy as Kakashi. But maybe in the future he could. And he would get the Sharingan later. And that would make him stronger. And he would be a great ninja, worthy of his Sensei, of his love, of his friend. And he would never be forgotten. Not ever. Heroes were never forgotten.

_You'll never be a hero, _the voice said. _Not in that way. _

Obito always ignored it, the same way that Izuna did, when he followed his brother's shadow. He kept going, and he kept striving for the sunlight. Kakashi was still so distant, but Obito imagined he was getting a little closer to him, every day. And one day, he thought, he would see what was beyond Kakashi.

One day, the same as it had for Izuna, it came down to a moment.

A moment where he could watch Kakashi fall. Where even the slightest hesitation would have cleared the way to whatever lay beyond Kakashi. Where a simple choice would decide which one of them would become the great hero, and which one would be the shadow the hero constantly looked over his shoulder to see.

_You can only be a hero through __**sacrifice, **_the voice said.

Obito's name will be on the monument forever, but only Kakashi reads it now. Just as Izuna will always be part of his brother's story - a story which only Madara now cares to tell.

The only thing Obito did not get was a chance to regret his decision. Kakashi became far greater than he ever would have done if both had lived. He is whispered about across a whole continent, and his name reaches even beyond that. His enemies talk about him in fear, but also awe, and there is not a ninja alive who does not respect his power.

He became a Hero. Not a Villain.

But who knows where Obito got such good judgement from?

* * *

We are more than the sons and daughters of our fathers, our mothers, our ancestors, no matter the influence they had.

But in the end we are still their sons and daughters.

We will be better than them or we will die trying. Maybe not in the way they expect, or the way we expect - but we will learn from their mistakes, nevertheless, and make our own, so other children can learn from us.

Because lines are drawn in more than blood: we inherit the spirit of the past, so the parallels can be made in something more long-lasting.

* * *

**A/N: ***scratches head* Um, I'm not too sure about that last part, except that it is miles better than what I had before and at least it has some closure... right? :S I'm really not sure about this one, so I'd love to hear any thoughts you have about it!


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